The Industry Of Professional Sports

The stereotype for men is that Sundays are dedicated to football and nothing else. I won’t deny that. Truth is, without any professional sports my days would either be extremely productive or I’d start attending yoga class to cope with the stress. Yoga would actually be good for me seeing that I’m a wounded former college baseball player who misses the sport more than I miss the days of my mother doing my laundry.

My sophomore year I was dealing with serious back pain and an MRI found that I had a stress fracture in my spine. As a pitcher I wasn’t much good with an injured back so I took my talents to the journalism school at the University of Oregon. Sorry LeBron, but that line will never be outplayed. Athletics have played such an important role in my life that professional sports have become an obsession of mine. I have a tremendous amount of respect for professional athletes because I understand the amount of blood, sweat and tears they put into their profession.

Brett Favre is one of many athletes who have capitilized on endorsement deals throughout their career.

Athletes at the highest level of competition are paid an absurd amount of money and some people have a difficult time understanding that. Sure, some athletes are overpaid and make poor decisions about how they spend their money, but they aren’t the only ones cashing in. The estimated size of the entire U.S. sports industry is nearly $422 billion, in 2011 alone. U.S. Sports Industry I have a hard time believing professional athletes are being overpaid with a market that sizeable. Not only are athletes paid for their abilities on the field, some are making even more money through endorsement deals by appearing in Old Spice commercials and TV spots. Today, professional athletes rely on their public image as much as they depend on their abilities to perform.

The world of marketing and advertising provides a whole new set of financial capabilities to athletes who have maintained a strong reputation in the community. However, the last ten years have changed professional sports for good and the birth of social media has placed a whole new level of pressure on athletes. Professional athletes are now in the public eye 24 hours a day and if they make a mistake the whole world knows about it in a matter of seconds.

Privacy is a thing of the past and it seems that a lot of the world’s population has forgotten that professional athletes are still ordinary people. My goal is to analyze the different aspects of professional sports as an industry and I hope to make others aware of how corrupt this business is.